If your IT company hires freelancers, two things change. On 31 December 2026 the presumption of employment takes effect: anyone working at a low hourly rate is presumed to be an employee. On 1 January 2027 the soft landing at the Belastingdienst ends and default penalties can follow too.
For most freelance developers and consultants the rate is not the problem. The risk lies in how the work goes: a developer who works in your client's scrum team for months, with your laptop and your planning, soon looks like an employee. An agency in the chain or the freelancer's own private company does not change that.
In short
- Presumption of employment from 31 December 2026, in civil law only. The act names at most € 36 an hour, the government names € 38, the amount as of 31 December 2026 will follow.
- DBA Act: in 2026 no default penalties, but penalties for intent or gross negligence. From 1 January 2027 normal enforcement, and with hiring through an agency the Belastingdienst looks at the whole chain.
- The ICT professional model agreement may be used until 31 December 2029, but only gives certainty if you actually work as it describes.
In this article
- What changes on 31 December 2026?
- What changes at the Belastingdienst on 1 January 2027?
- When is a developer in your client's scrum team actually an employee?
- Does an agency shift the risk away from you?
- Does the ICT professional model agreement still help?
- Can you be liable for someone else's tax?
- Why does the government look so closely at false self-employment?
- What do you arrange before 1 January 2027?
What changes on 31 December 2026?
The Dutch Civil Code gets article 7:610aa. Anyone who works for another for pay of at most € 36 an hour is presumed to do that work under an employment contract (Bulletin of Acts 2026, 158). The act takes effect on 31 December 2026 (Bulletin of Acts 2026, 207).
There is still a difference about the amount. The act names at most € 36, the government names € 38, because the amount rises with the minimum wage (Ondernemersplein). The amount as of 31 December 2026 will follow. The act says the minister sets it for the first application by ministerial regulation (Bulletin of Acts 2026, 158, article III).
The presumption only works in civil law. The government writes that it has purely civil-law effect. The Belastingdienst, UWV and the Labour Inspectorate do not test against it themselves (Parliamentary Paper 36 783, D). So it is about a dispute between the worker and the client. If a freelancer invokes it, the client has to prove there is no employment contract (Ondernemersplein).
A freelance developer with a rate well above that amount is not affected. It can matter with cheap hiring, such as a junior, a student or someone for support and helpdesk work. If you pay a fixed price per job, work out the hourly rate that results. How to do that is in the article on the presumption with a price per job.
If you hire through an agency, there is an extra question. The act speaks of work for another for pay by that other. When you hire through an agency, the agency pays the freelancer. How the presumption then works out in a chain is not spelled out in the act.
What changes at the Belastingdienst on 1 January 2027?
Then the soft landing ends. In 2026 the Belastingdienst does not yet impose default penalties and an inspection in principle starts with a company visit. From 1 January 2027 those parts end too (Enforcement plan for employment relationships 2026). A default penalty is a penalty for an obligation you fail to meet, or meet late, even without intent.
Penalties for intent or gross negligence have been possible since 1 January 2026 (Belastingdienst, enforcement). The government confirms that from 1 January 2027 enforcement on the correct assessment of employment relationships becomes part of normal enforcement again (Parliamentary Paper 36 783, D).
How far back the Belastingdienst can go remains limited. Until 2030 it goes no further back than 1 January 2025, except in cases of bad faith or an earlier instruction. Only from 2030 can it go back five years again (Enforcement plan for employment relationships 2026, section 3.3). What else the DBA Act covers is in the article on the DBA Act and false self-employment.
When is a developer in your client's scrum team actually an employee?
That depends on all circumstances together. What the parties intended on paper does not decide it. What matters is whether what they agreed and how they work fits an employment contract (Supreme Court 24 March 2023, ECLI:NL:HR:2023:443).
In this Deliveroo ruling the Supreme Court names, among other things, the nature and duration of the work, who decides the work and working hours, embedding in the organisation, whether the work must be done personally, how the agreements came about, how and how much is paid, and whether the worker bears commercial risk. It also counts whether the worker behaves as an entrepreneur, for example with several clients and own acquisition (Supreme Court, ground 3.2.5).
None of those points weighs more in advance. In 2025 the Supreme Court said it does not rank them and that entrepreneurship carries no different weight than the rest (Supreme Court 21 February 2025, ECLI:NL:HR:2025:319).
The government gave an IT example itself. A website administrator has maintained a swimming pool's website for years, at € 65 an hour, with his own computer and software and several clients. He decides himself how and when he works. Website management is not part of the pool's core, so there is no embedding. The conclusion: he can work outside employment (Dutch government, detailed practical examples).
At a software company it is different. Embedding means the work is a structural part of the organisation, like building at a construction company (Dutch government, detailed practical examples). If a freelancer helps build your client's own product, in a permanent team, with the client's sprint planning, more points indicate employment. The table below sets this next to the government example. There is no official source that says anything specific about scrum teams or agile working.
| Criterion | Website administrator (government example) | Developer in scrum team (example) |
|---|---|---|
| Embedding | Not core work of the pool | Builds the client's own product |
| Work and hours | Decides how and when himself | Client's sprint planning and stand-up |
| Equipment | Own computer and software | Client's laptop and accounts |
| Entrepreneurship | Several clients, own website | One client for a long time |
| Outcome | Outside employment | More points indicate employment |
A high rate or an own private company does not solve this. Even with a high hourly rate there can be false self-employment, and the legal form does not prevent it (Dutch government, FAQ on false self-employment). False self-employment means someone works as self-employed, while in practice the work is employment.
Does an agency shift the risk away from you?
No. If the work runs through an agency or intermediary, the same rules apply (Dutch government, FAQ on false self-employment). An agency is a party that matches the freelancer with you and often also handles the invoices between you.
The Belastingdienst looks at exactly this. According to the enforcement plan, self-employed people are often hired through an intermediary, and clients seem to want to shift the risk to the agency that way. To assess this, the Belastingdienst says it often needs insight into the whole chain, and it continues this work in 2026 (Enforcement plan for employment relationships 2026).
Many agencies use the Bovib model agreement. It only gives certainty if the freelancer does not work long-term and only through the same intermediary. The intermediary may only say what the freelancer will do, not how (Belastingdienst, Bovib model agreement). Otherwise there can be a deemed employment through intermediation: for payroll taxes the law then treats the freelancer as an employee of the agency.
The online assessment tool does not help much in a chain either. The outcome is an indication without legal status. The tool is not meant for the party where the work actually happens, and not for a contractor with a private company (Ondernemersplein, FAQ on the online tool).
Does the ICT professional model agreement still help?
Yes, until 31 December 2029 and only if you work by it. Since 6 September 2024 the Belastingdienst no longer assesses new model agreements. Approved models may still be used until 31 December 2029. They only give certainty if client and contractor work as the agreement describes (Belastingdienst, no more new model agreements).
For IT there is the ICT professional model agreement of NL Digital, number 9052021540810, assessed on 22 June 2021. The Belastingdienst saw no relationship of authority, mainly because the agreement explicitly limits the client's power to give instructions (ICT professional model agreement). Authority means the client can direct the work the way an employer does.
The assessment only covers payroll taxes. Not the freelancer's income tax or VAT, and not corporate income tax if the freelancer has a private company (ICT professional model agreement, explanation). And practice comes first. If the agreement says the client gives no instructions about how, but the client's product owner decides every day what and how the freelancer builds, the paper does not protect you.
Can you be liable for someone else's tax?
Yes, through hirer's liability. If a lender lends you an employee to work under your supervision or direction, you are jointly and severally liable for the wage tax and VAT the lender owes on it. Not for the penalty (Collection of State Taxes Act 1990, article 34). Jointly and severally means the Belastingdienst can collect the whole amount from you.
With hiring through an agency the government points to the same risk. If the freelancer turns out to be employed in reality, you as hirer can be liable for unpaid payroll taxes or VAT of the intermediary (Dutch government, FAQ on false self-employment).
You can make that risk smaller. What you pay into the lender's blocked account (g-account) comes off your liability. And you are not liable if it is plausible that the non-payment is not the fault of the lender or of you (Collection of State Taxes Act 1990, article 34, paragraphs 3 and 5).
Why does the government look so closely at false self-employment?
Because self-employment can hide employment. Economists Boeri, Giupponi, Krueger and Machin compared solo self-employed people in the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy. They see solo self-employment as an intermediate status between employment and unemployment (Boeri et al., 2020).
Their proposal fits the Dutch approach. Applying minimum wage rules to these jobs too and reconsidering the tax advantage for the self-employed could, in their view, discourage abuse to hide de facto dependent employment (Boeri et al., 2020). The presumption at a low hourly rate works in the same direction. The research is not about the Netherlands and not about IT, and shows no effect of the Dutch rules.
What do you arrange before 1 January 2027?
For each freelancer, look at how the work goes in practice, not only at what is on paper. Look especially at long assignments with one client and at freelancers who work in a permanent team of the client.
- Record what the result or effort is, and leave the how to the freelancer.
- If you use the ICT professional or Bovib model agreement, actually work by it, and put the number in the agreement.
- When hiring through an agency, ask how it does the assessment, and consider payment into a g-account.
- With cheap hiring, such as juniors or support, watch the hourly rate around € 38.
- Follow the Government Gazette for the amount as of 31 December 2026.
Sources
- Act of 18 June 2026 amending Book 7 of the Dutch Civil Code to introduce a presumption of employment contract based on an hourly rate, Bulletin of Acts 2026, 158. officielebekendmakingen.nl
- Decree of 13 July 2026 on the entry into force, Bulletin of Acts 2026, 207. officielebekendmakingen.nl
- Ondernemersplein, Low hourly rate of a self-employed worker can lead to an employment contract, accessed 31 October 2026. ondernemersplein.overheid.nl
- Memorandum in response to the report, Parliamentary Paper 36 783, D, 5 June 2026. officielebekendmakingen.nl
- Belastingdienst, Enforcement plan for employment relationships 2026, version 2.0, 31 December 2025. belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst, Employment relationships and enforcement, accessed 31 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
- Supreme Court of the Netherlands 24 March 2023, ECLI:NL:HR:2023:443 (Deliveroo). uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
- Supreme Court of the Netherlands 21 February 2025, ECLI:NL:HR:2025:319 (Uber, preliminary questions). uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
- Dutch government, Detailed practical examples of false self-employment, 16 January 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
- Dutch government, FAQ on false self-employment, accessed 31 October 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
- Belastingdienst, Model agreement for independent professionals (Bovib), number 91321.69656.1, valid from 18 February 2022. belastingdienst.nl
- Ondernemersplein, FAQ on the online tool for assessing employment relationships, accessed 31 October 2026. ondernemersplein.overheid.nl
- Belastingdienst, No more new model agreements, accessed 31 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst, ICT professional model agreement (NL Digital), assessment number 9052021540810, 22 June 2021, valid until 31 December 2029. belastingdienst.nl
- Collection of State Taxes Act 1990, article 34, in force from 1 October 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
- Boeri, T., Giupponi, G., Krueger, A.B. and Machin, S. (2020). Solo Self-Employment and Alternative Work Arrangements: A Cross-Country Perspective on the Changing Composition of Jobs. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 34(1), 170-195. doi.org